Later, (after the rain has stopped), as Marlowe leaves the bookstore, he non-chalantly says goodbye to the character who has given him an observant, professional description of Geiger:Marlowe: Well, thanks.He raised an ancient sacrificial ceremonial dagger over Evelyn: "With your death, Anck-su-namun shall live.Cinematographer Ernest Lazlo had worked on another famous, earlier film noir,D.O.A.(1950), which prepared him for this film.In both, he used German expressionistic lighting and shadows, reminiscient ofThe Cabinet of Dr.Caligari (1920).This independent film features a cheap and sleazy, contemptible, fascistic private investigator/vigilante named Mike Hammer whose trademarks are brutish violence, the end-justifies-the-means philosophy and speed.And it is set on New York's oppressive waterfront docks, where dock workers struggled for work, dignity, and to make ends meet under the control of hard-knuckled, mob-run labor unions that would force them to submit to daily 'shape-ups' by cruel hiring bosses.